By Marie Tonette Grace Marticio
TACLOBAN CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it has not identified any election hot spot in Eastern Visayas.
Jose Nick Mendros, Comelec regional director, said there are only 70 of the 4,390 barangays in the region were identified as areas of concern because of possible intense political rivalry and the presence of private armed groups and the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
Mendros said most of the barangays are in Northern Samar which has 21 areas of concern, and Samar with 22.
He said that with the support of the police and the military, the number of areas of concern will no longer increase.
He reminded law enforcers to strictly follow the conduct of checkpoints, create an election security plan for every municipality and enforce the Comelec gun ban.
“We asked for their commitment to participate and ensure that the elections on this part of the country will be peaceful,” he said.
Comelec has reshuffled provincial election officers ahead of the May polls.